To Unravel
by cataclysmicreaction
Summary: Sasuke was right. She DID inherit Kakashi’s tutelage methods, in other words, his laziness. The worst part about this situation was that she felt as if her distaste in pornography was actually ruining the current moment. A corroboration with LG55255525!
1. A Fight To Fit

AN: Sorry about not updating my other stories for awhile. It's just I'm having trouble coming up with ideas and scenarios on how they should play out. So for this story, I was at work and a scandalous idea popped into my jaded mind. This chapter may foreshadow the scandal…. Or you'll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out. But for now, just enjoy!

Chapter 1- A Fit to Fight

The sound of clinking bottles pierced through the drunken atmosphere. The bartender behind the bar held a glass bottle containing heavy brown liquid and tipped it into a clear crystalline glass. Out of the corner of his eye, a woman with vivacious pink hair caught his attention. Mesmerized by such an unusual combination of roseate hair and forest green eyes, he kept his attention upon her the entire night, hoping to catch snippets of her conversation. Maybe she was an interesting girl? Unfortunately, the sound of drunken clamor drowned out the conversation that she was having with the two men at her table, and he went back to refilling drinks, sullen and disappointed.

"Oh Sasuke, stop brooding. It's depressing…" the pink-haired girl reprimanded.

Naruto took a swig of his beer. "But Sakura-chan, teme always broods…"

She scowled. "He looks even moodier than usual…" She followed Naruto, and took a swig of her own drink.

"Hnn…" the darker-haired man grunted.

"You can't blame teme for missing us, even if he doesn't want to admit it," the blond admonished. Both Sakura and Naruto glanced at Sasuke expectantly, hoping for a smidgen of reaction, "especially if he's going to be kicking ass alone…"

"Hmm…" Sakura taunted, "I would've thought he wouldn't have minded so much… Since he's always such a drama queen." She sent a smile in his direction, "Isn't that right Sasuke?"

Sasuke scrunched up his nose in disgust and simply glared at her.

"She's just kidding teme. Don't throw a fit now…" Naruto chuckled.

"Drama queen," Sakura whispered behind her beer.

"ANYWAYS," Sasuke admonished, "What are you guys going to be doing now that you've resigned from ANBU?"

Naruto replied after popping a peanut, or at least he hoped it was a peanut, into his mouth, "I'm going to train with baa-chan to become Hokage. I also heard from Baa-chan that Sakura-chan here is going to be assigned a jounin team."

"Yup. That's correct Naruto." Sakura smiled, taking a gulp of her beer. "And guess what? I get to boss them around."

Sasuke looked at her. "You know, I have a strange feeling you and Kakashi have similar tutelage methods…"

"You know Sasuke, they ARE jounins. It's not like I have to teach them basics. I'll just train them…"

Naruto interrupted. "ACTUALLY, Baa-chan told me that they're ROOKIE jounin."

Sasuke chuckled. Sakura simply glared.

"But you know," the blond continued," I heard that you have the best rookie jounin on your team."

Downing the rest of her beer, she responded, "You mean Matsumoto Yuki?"

"Yeah…I heard he's a shoo-in for Anbu," Naruto said enthusiastically. "I heard from Ibiki that he should've made jounin when he was 17, but unfortunately, Ibiki didn't like his attitude and failed him."

"Doesn't sound that hot," Sakura replied skeptically, "I made jounin at 16."

For the third time that night, Sasuke decided to grace the group with his opinion, "I've never met the brat, but from what I hear, he's rude, anti-social, and moody."

"Sounds like you," Sakura commented casually.

Sasuke replied indignantly, "I am not moody."

Naruto choked on his drink. Sakura simply stared at him. "You're joking right?" the pair asked simultaneously.

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke asked Sakura, "Do you think you can handle him?"

"Oh no… I almost forgot I had to meet them tomorrow!" the pink-haired girl exclaimed as she slammed one hand onto the wooden table, causing the table to rattle and the base to splinter like a 3.0 earthquake on the Richter scale.

"Ahhh! Sakura-chan! Watch it!"

"Sorry Naruto," she said casually.

Sasuke cleared his throat, grabbing the pink-haired woman's attention. "I'll drop by tomorrow to see how you're doing."

She shrugged. "Fine. Do whatever you want." Her voice was laced with mild antagonism. Apparently, Sasuke thought she couldn't handle some snot-nosed brat. She felt it was her duty as a human being, to prove him wrong. If she could tolerate Sasuke, then she could tolerate almost anybody. However, that statement might've been more or less factual, for she in fact couldn't tolerate Sasuke. "But I think you're not giving me enough credit here. He's just an 18 year old kid. We're 8 years off. I'm still his senior and superior."

"Whatever," the man responded, "But I'm still stopping by."

"Okay then," she gritted.

"Okay," he confirmed.

It was more or less childish, but who said adults had to act like adults.

Naruto decided to change the subject. "Soooo teme, how are you and your girlfriend?"

Sakura twitched at Naruto's question. It suddenly got very hot in here. Sakura shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She was sure that she tasted bile.

"Hnn," Sasuke grunted, which in Sasuke's world meant 'it's going good'. "We're talking about moving in together."

Naruto excitedly exclaimed, "Congratulations! Let's celebrate!"

Sakura simply stayed quiet.

The blond waved the waiter over to order shots all around. She crossed her arms and quietly observed her two teammates, hoping that the sharp pain within her chest would subside quickly before Sasuke noticed her discomfort. The whole situation seriously just sucked.

Soon, the waiter laid out 20 shots on the table and went back to bustling tables.

Sasuke eyed Sakura darkly. Unfortunately her sour demeanor didn't go unnoticed. He watched her as she downed two shots with suppressed misery. As she opted to reach for her third shot, his arm shot out and grabbed the tiny glass from her reach.

Surprised, her glazed, down-trodden eyes found his. Her mouth hung open, on the verge of refuting to his actions. However, she paused, and her emerald eyes hardened; the misery instantly dissipated as if it was never there. Shrugging with nonchalance, she said, "Excuse me, I'm going to go grab a drink at the bar."

Naruto didn't notice her leave as he attempted to get a hold of the waiter once more to see if the place served any ramen. Sasuke's eyes remained on her retreating figure through the crowd.

Holding back the urge to decimate the place, Sakura staggered towards the bar. "What can I get for you?" the bartender politely asked her.

She grunted and glanced back at Sasuke, whose eyes were still watching her, "Whiskey, straight up."

The bartender set the drink down as she quickly downed its contents. Pushing the glass back in his direction, she signaled for a refill.

Tipping the bottle of whiskey into her empty glass, he spoke, "You know, it's not healthy to channel your frustrations through alcohol."

She shrugged nonchalantly as she finished the glass in one smooth motion. "Another one," she ordered and pushed the glass towards him once again.

Hesitantly, the man poured the pink-haired girl another glass. "So what do you do for a living?"

She paused and for a second, almost snorted into her drink. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Yes and no… Outwardly, it's very hard to believe you're a shinobi. However, you have that look."

"What look?" she asked as she finished another glass.

He paused and contemplated his response, "Jaded and rough around the edges."

She chuckled. He was right. She was jaded. "You're observant."

"Gee thanks," he replied, sarcasm laced within his voice. His voice turned serious, "So, it seems like you have a thing for that guy over there." He motioned over towards the brooding Uchiha.

"Eh…" she shrugged. "He's in love with someone else." She pushed for another refill.

"How can you be so sure?"

She paused for a second. For the first time through their conversation, she looked at the man. Her emerald eyes connected with his shocking amethyst ones. "You know, this really is none of your business."

He laughed as he ran a hand through his golden-brown hair, "Well, I make it a point to help out alcoholics with matters of the heart."

She contemplated his response. "Fair enough," she said in between mouthfuls of whiskey, "and I know because I know him better than anybody else."

"I see," he said thoughtfully, "You know he's looking this way right?"

She turned around and low and behold, his onyx eyes were still on her. "So?" she said bluntly.

"He doesn't look like he's very happy with me," he said smiling at her.

She glanced up at his amethyst eyes once again; the color held her attention, "He's just probably over-protective."

"Yagami Aki," he said while extending his hand out.

She paused and looked thoughtfully at his greeting. After a brief moment, she extended her hand out, "Haruno Sakura."

"So Sakura, how much are you willing to bet that that brooding almost-human being over there isn't jealous of our conversation?" Aki said playfully.

She smiled, and for the first time that night she realized there was more to this bartender than she thought. "How much do you have?"

Aki seemed amused at her response. "Hmm, that would be mean of me though."

"Why are you so confident?" she questioned. Her interest no longer laid within her half-filled glass of whiskey.

His hands guided her shoulders so that her emerald eyes met with Sasuke's intense glare. "You know what I see from his eyes?"

"Constipation?" she replied skeptically.

"Yes," he answered, "constipation." He laughed at her cynicism. "Not only that, but there's yearning, anger, desire, and panic." His voice was now a mere whisper from her ear.

She was quiet for a moment. "You're deluded," she simply stated. "That man is dead on the inside."

"While that might be true, you might not know him as well as you think you do."

She scoffed. "You are awfully confident. I didn't realize that you had your head so far up your ass. You might be right. I have such awful character judgment, seeing as how I'm still talking to you."

He leaned in and gave her a point-blank stare. "You must be. You still haven't picked up that I've been flirting with you this whole time." She raised an elegant pink brow. "See, this just proves you're oblivious."

She shrugged and turned back around, avoiding Sasuke's dark gaze.

Aki leaned in towards the pink-haired girl and whispered, "Let me prove my theory to you."

* * *

Her eyes widened as he pressed his lips against hers.

* * *

The blond was waving his arms around fanatically. Hey, he had to distract Sasuke somehow? The man was currently sipping his drink in a broody manner. Oh joy… Naruto always got stuck with the short end of the stick...

Sakura was yonder over at the bar seemingly enjoying a delicious kiss with an amethyst-eyed bartender. Naruto wasn't quite sure if Sasuke noticed, but as long as Naruto kept Sasuke distracted, he was sure it wouldn't click in Sasuke's mind what Sakura was doing.

"So you know Baa-chan says that I have a lot to work on!" Naruto embellished loudly, "But still, my job is much tougher than it looks. Bet you couldn't do it!"

By now, Sasuke didn't seem to be paying attention to Naruto altogether. Naruto inwardly sighed. Well hey, at least he tried.

Sasuke glanced back toward the now silent blond. "You can go over there if you want to Sasuke," Naruto mumbled warily.

He simply grunted and abruptly stood up. His footsteps seemed calm, but Naruto knew Sasuke better than he supposedly knew himself, and those were definitely frantic footsteps. Naruto sighed into his drink. This was going to be a very long night.

His lips were soft, and he tasted wild and male. She could slowly feel the oxygen leave her lungs and the numbness in her legs. It was an odd combination considering she was sitting down. There was flirtation and caution in his kiss, and she felt lost within his intoxicating smell. This amethyst eyed bartender made her feel exciting and dangerous, something she hadn't felt in years.

As she was about to give in to this man, an agitated noise caused her to jerk away from the gorgeous bartender. Sasuke, apparently, was clearing his throat louder than she thought was possible. Flushed with anger and embarrassment, she glared at the offending man.

Aki gave the man a bright-eyed smile, as if he was expecting him. "What can I get you?" he asked Sasuke cheerfully.

Uchiha Sasuke narrowed his eyes in disapproval and answered blandly, "Vodka, straight up. And just water for the lady."

The pink-haired kunoichi tilted her head in confusion. Aki turned his gaze towards her and gave her a flirtatious wink as he poured Sasuke's drink and handed Sakura a bottle of water. Immediately, Sasuke's hand circled around the girl's wrist, and she was dragged back towards Naruto's direction.

She did not protest nor resist, and allowed the man to his twisted desires.

Naruto seemed rather amused as his cerulean eyes sparkled with mischief. Sakura, on the other hand, was slightly confused and miffed now as she finally gathered the situation. However, she did not appreciate exposing her agitation to this man. Ignoring the situation, she popped off the cap on her bottled water and took a quick swig. "Thanks," she waved the bottle to indicate what she was referring to.

The dark-haired man 'hnned' in response.

Sakura flashed him a smile before walking away without another word.

* * *

The one thing that Sakura didn't appreciate during her genin years was her porn-loving sensei's lack of punctuality. She had a feeling that though the new kid didn't in fact possess a high affinity for porn (or so she hoped he didn't), he wasn't that punctual. He was late, and she was pissed.

The other two had shown up on time. They were simply gazing at her with skeptical expressions plastered upon their young, unjaded faces, and she immediately wondered if there was something on her face that she had missed during her shower that morning.

When the rookie had finally decided to grace her with his presence, he was an hour late. She could almost feel her blood pressure rise from his lack of respect but held her temper in deference to her own dignity. The kid wore a smug, 'I'm too young to understand what kind of predicament I'm in' smile.

She did not address his tardiness and started their first training session. "My name is Haruno Sakura, and I will be your jounin squad captain."

The two early boys gave her a skeptical smile, while the late boy seemed rather bored with her introduction.

Sakura paused and waited for their introductions. Hey, she just wanted to be polite. It wasn't as if she gave a shit who these puberty-hit kids were.

Apparently, Maki and Tenjou didn't seem to like her very much, and the rookie of the year, Yuki, had a snotty 'I'm better than you' attitude. Oh how he reminded her of a certain brooding dark-haired man….

Their introductions never came, but she had known who each and every one of them were before their meeting. Maki, as she recalled from Tsunade's files, was the one on the far left. His weight was placed on one leg as he stood there tapping his leg impatiently as if he was expecting her to spontaneously sprout horns. He reminded her of Hyuuga Neji with his mid-length brown hair and silver eyes. However, his pupils, unlike Neji's were dark, giving the man's eyes a contrast that was definitely more than sexy.

Sakura rolled her eyes. This kid seriously thought he was every female's wet dream. She suddenly wanted to make him cry.

Tenjou, an equally handsome boy, seemed much more humble than his counterpart. However, she sensed a certain sense of doubt radiating from the boy. His honey eyes seemed to disapprove of her, while he struggled to maintain a proper image in front of his superior. He seemed like the proper type. Sakura could tell, this boy spent hours in front of the mirror just to get his dirty blond hair in perfect condition. She almost felt like puking.

Sakura was sure she could handle these two, no matter how high maintenance or stuck up they were. But the last young man…she was sure she would snap with a couple of hours. Yuki had an indescribable attraction. It was a combination of mystery and darkness that awfully reminded her of Uchiha Sasuke. She immediately developed distaste for the young jounin.

"I would appreciate a brief introduction. A name would be nice," the pink-haired captain said dryly.

"Hyuuga Maki," the silver-eyed young man answered boredly.

Her eyes immediately shot to the gorgeous young man. "You're related to Neji?"

He seemed interested now as the silver within his eyes changed to grey. "We are cousins. I am from the main house."

She tasted a slight bitterness in her voice as she spoke to this young man, "Neji and I are friends."

It seemed that was all that was needed to be said. She knew that she had earned the boy's respect. After all, Hyuuga Neji wasn't the easiest person in the world to deal with.

The boy nodded respectfully, seemingly losing his haughty edge. She turned to Tenjou expectantly.

"Raigayashi Tenjou," the honey-eyed individual murmured.

The pink-haired kunoichi scrutinized the brunette. He was technically royalty. The Raigayashi clan was the biggest contributor to Konoha's yearly funds. Oh joy, she was going to be stuck with a spoiled brat.

"Tenjou, I brought your father back on that rescue mission last year," Sakura stated. The kid seemed shaken as he continued to remain quiet. Her eyes finally rested upon Yuki. She paused and turned around. "Let's start training then."

Yuki's eyes never left the ground.

* * *

Sasuke was right. She DID inherit Kakashi's tutelage methods; in other words, his laziness. The worst part about this situation was that she felt as if her distaste in pornography was actually ruining the current moment. She just didn't feel right without an orange book of smut in her hands.

The boys were sparring as she lazily stretched under the warmth of the sun. It felt nice to have time for herself. Being in Anbu didn't allow for these precious moments of recreation. Now that she retired from Anbu, she would spend more time getting a tan. She thought that maybe working at night and infiltrating underground torture chambers had made her a bit pale.

Besides, the clanking of swords was quite soothing. The boys were apparently sparring with katanas. Kids these days…so violent. She shrugged off the noise and lost herself to the whistling of the wind and the metallic spark of metal. Just as she was about to drift off to la-la land, the familiar swishing sound of metal piercing air disrupted her peaceful nap as she rolled away from her spot against the tree, narrowly missing being gorged in the face by a shiny metallic saber. What a great way to start out the day… almost shanked in the face.

Lazily, the pink-haired woman opened one eye only to come face to face with the blade of a vibrating sword that had buried its tip into the trunk of her recreational spot. She sighed. So much for peace and quiet…

The men were alarmed as Maki and Tenjou gaped at Sakura. Yuki simply sported a smug expression. Sakura yawned lazily and pulled herself up from the ground. "Ah, you guys are too loud. Maki, you should keep your movements less exaggerated. Tenjou, your movements don't have to be so reserved. We aren't running a beauty pageant you know…. And Yuki… you should probably start practicing…" She yawned again and headed into the bush, fully intending on taking a long deserved nap.

Yuki narrowed his eyes disapprovingly. "Why should I take any advice from you?" the Sasuke-wannabe asked monotonically.

Sakura spun around, pink hair cascading a whirlwind of pink behind her, and smiled, "You don't have to take any advice actually. You actually don't have to listen to me at all."

Yuki's smug expression returned.

"However, just because you don't have to do anything I say doesn't mean you don't have a responsibility towards the other two kids on your team," Sakura finished dryly.

Yuki rebuked. "I don't see you doing any training. You're just lying around. To be honest, you don't seem like someone we should be taking orders from."

Sakura smiled. But this time, she didn't seem to be looking at looking the three boys. "Sasuke-kun!"


	2. The Reality of Things

A/N: I'll let the first chapter slide. But from now on, like my friend Shitakemushrooms says, "Reviews, reviews, and more reviews!" Oh, and sorry for the long update. :-D (*guilty expression)

Chapter 2- The Reality of Things

"Sasuke-kun!"

Uchiha Sasuke was a man who knew himself very well. He prided that a lot and as a result, he was significantly proud of his reasonability to accept what was reality and what wasn't. The reality of the situation with Sakura was unfavorable. And Sasuke knew this very well.

It had been about ten years since Sasuke heard that affectionate suffix attached to his name. There was a bright, but undeniably restrained smile plastered upon her face. He could almost see her blood boiling and her teeth grinding concrete. He was obviously interrupting something.

"Hnn," he acknowledged as he stood next to her.

She flashed him another bright, fake smile. "Have you met my team?"

His eyes narrowed in disapproval at her demeanor. He gave the three boys a once over and glanced back in her direction, "No need for introductions. I just came to see how you were doing."

She cringed internally. She had almost forgotten that the man was going to drop by. Looking at the situation now, she had dismissed it because she had assumed he thought the reality was insignificant.

"I'm doing fine," she said while giving him another flash of her pearly whites. She wanted to shrink into a puddle of her own blood.

His eyes scrutinized her once again, and then he said, "Don't let me interrupt you. I just wanted to visit you." He gave her a quick pat on her shoulder.

She almost shrunk right into her shell of a person. The heat from his insignificant touch burned on her shoulder blade, stirring an empty relentless nagging in the pits of her stomach. Snapping out of her reverie, she turned towards the boys and gave Yuki and point-blank stare. "Train."

Tenjou and Maki didn't have to be told twice. They immediately grabbed their katanas and leapt towards the woods, leaving marks of their battle in the terrain. Yuki, on the other hand, stood in the same spot, defiantly silent. Why the hell did this kid have to be so difficult?

Yuki smirked defiantly at her, as if he deemed to intentionally humiliate her in front of her ex-teammate.

Sakura could almost feel an incoming migraine. In this particular moment, Sasuke was beside her again as she sweetly spoke. "Sasuke-kun…"

There was that suffix again. Sasuke wasn't sure what was happening.

"…do you mind giving me a minute with Yuki?"

The dark-haired man scrutinized her carefully before he nodded wordlessly.

Once Sasuke was out of listening range, Sakura turned her attention on the Sasuke-wannabe. The lazy playfulness dissipated from her emerald orbs. .

"Uchiha Sasuke is someone I highly respect, so out of your respect for him, your superiors, and _me,_ I suggest you do as I say…" Her voice lowered two octaves,"… or I won't hesitate to _kill_ you." Her eyes flashed dangerously. And then she blinked. The lazy playfulness returned into her forest green eyes as if it had never left.

"Got it?" she asked behind a smile.

The boy blinked. Avoiding her eyes, he simply turned towards the direction that Maki and Tenjou were sparring and left without a glance.

Once the boys were gone, she turned towards Sasuke. "Lunch?"

* * *

"The kid reminds me of the Hyuuga," Sasuke commented with a tone of indifference.

"Maybe because they're related?" Sakura responded dryly.

Sasuke pondered the thought. "I'm talking about Matsumoto Yuki.

Sputtering as she attempted to swallow a bite of her rice ball, she laughed incredulously. "Funny. Because on the contrary, I think he reminds me of you."

"Hnn." Sasuke seemed indifferent to her comment. However, Sakura being Sakura knew Sasuke well enough that she could see he was annoyed by her observation. "I did not disobey my superiors so blatantly."

Chuckling, Sakura took another bite of her rice ball. "You never seemed so concerned about insubordination." She paused. "Maybe it's because you're seeing it through the eyes of a bystander this time around."

Sasuke glared. Deciding that it wasn't worth poaching the subject any further, Sasuke resigned to focusing on his tomato soup. As he was poking curiously at it with a spoon, a thought suddenly occurred to him. "Sakura."

Her eyes glanced up to meet his, inhibitions forgotten, as her heart almost stopped at the sight of his obsidian eyes. Her mind raced to calm down, willing herself to remain composed in front of him.

"I need a favor." She indicated for him to continue. "Masaki would really like it if we could all go out with Naruto for dinner on Friday. She has always wanted the chance to get to know you better."

Sakura almost choked on her water. The man had the gall to ask her to dinner with his GIRLFRIEND. He had to be kidding. Quickly searching for an excuse, she was disappointed to find that she was in fact very free that Friday. It was almost nature's way of saying 'screw you'. She did what any normal person would've done facing this situation, she lied. "I'm sorry, I have a date."

His obsidian eyes froze, as she casually glanced down to pick up another rice ball. She refused to meet his eyes. Very leisurely, he interjected the silence, "I didn't know you were dating."

For some obscure reason, this comment irked her. It was as though he EXPECTED her to NOT date. Maybe she was looking too much into his comment. "I'm not. It's just ONE date."

"I see." Then, a rare flicker of emotion crossed through the stoic man's eyes. "Bring your date. We can triple. I'll tell Naruto to bring Hinata."

"Uh..." Sakura hesitated.

"Unless it's inconvenient for you that is…" Sasuke trailed off, leaving multitudes of implications floating in the tension-filled air.

Brushing pink hair away from her eyes, she stared the man straight in the eyes and responded, "Not at all. See you Friday night."

* * *

_Shit…Shit…Shit…Shit……._ That was Haruno Sakura's basic train of thought for the better part of the hour. Why did Sasuke's girlfriend want to get to know her anyway? Really, Sakura had nothing against the woman. She knew the difference between who she could and couldn't blame for her feelings. But why?! She shouldn't have to subject herself to spending an evening with Sasuke and his girlfriend. That was pure masochism.

Not only was that the problem, she had a day to find herself a suitable date to take to this charade. She had just royally screwed herself over.

Sighing, she knew she had just one option, as she dismissed the boys from their training.

"Captain," Maki addressed her properly, "What time tomorrow?"

Crap…she was so consumed with her ordeal that she almost forgot she had a responsibility to her jounin team. "I'm busy tomorrow. But meet here the day after tomorrow at 10:00 AM." Eyes piercing into Yuki, she emphasized, "Sharp."

Yuki seem unfazed as he strode by her, leaving a musky scent lingering in the air.

Sakura narrowed her eyes.

* * *

Pacing back and forth in front of the bar for the better part of the hour, she finally decided that she would indeed ask Aki to join her for her fiasco of a dinner. Now, not many things scared Haruno Sakura, but she found that this situation seemed to be an exception. It had been awhile since she found interest in a man other than the stoic idiot that put her in this situation. Of course, she'd been on plenty of dates; good ones, bad ones, average ones…

Whatever the case was, she hadn't thought much of them. Yagami Aki was a strange exception. Finally gathering up the courage, she walked into the bar. He was just as she remembered him, gorgeous and exhilarating. She had to admit, she was a bit nervous.

Aki was mindlessly attending to making a Kamikaze when he noticed a pair of mesmerizing forest green eyes focused on him. Tilting his head in mild surprise and flashing her his best grin, he motioned her to come sit at the bar.

She hesitantly approached the amethyst-eyed man. Suddenly, she felt twelve again; frigid and nervous about asking a boy out. Thoroughly disgusted with herself, she leaned against the counter.

"What can I get you?" Aki asked in between a smile.

She took a deep breath, and then another one. Why did she feel so giddy? "Um… a rum and coke. Light on the coke."

"Coming right up." With that, he turned around to mix the contents of her drink and slid it down the bar in one smooth movement. He was in front of her again, towering above her as she nursed her drink. "I didn't realize I would see you again." He almost sounded…hopeful.

The sound of his voice and the rum made her feel at ease as she took a breath of air. This gulp seemed to have gone down the right way. She spoke cautiously, "You see, I have this dinner tomorrow…" His smile grew wider. "…and it's a couples' thing…"

"I would love to go with you," he interrupted before she could finish her sentence. She felt the tension roll away in relief. "But on one condition…" She knew it was too good to be true. "…that we have our own little date before we join your friends."

Relief swept her once again. "That sounds lovely," she said sincerely and flashed him a warm smile. And before she could react, he leaned in and pressed his lips softly against hers.

Pulling away to see her forest green eyes widen, he said, "I wanted to do that without an audience. But don't take it the wrong way Sakura, I'm definitely interested in getting to know you."

He didn't play games. So neither would she. "Me too."

* * *

"Why would you do that?" Naruto questioned his best friend curiously.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Sasuke-teme, what's WRONG with you?! Why would you invite Masaki-chan and Sakura-chan to the same outing?!" Naruto snarled in frustration. It was obvious that Sasuke had the social graces of a cow.

"I don't see anything wrong with the situation."

Naruto sighed. "I guess for a genius, you really are dense. Or you're just in denial."

Sasuke glared.

"Sakura-chan is obviously still in love with you. Why would you do that to her?" Naruto muttered in exasperation.

Sasuke sighed. "I know dobe. But we're all adults here…" Sasuke eyed Naruto contemptuously, "At least for the better part, most of us…"

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING TEME?!" Naruto screamed in indignation.

The man cut off his best friend before he could go on his rant, "Look NARUTO, what I'm saying is we're all adults here. Sakura and I have been friends for a long time. Whatever there is between us is in the past, and we should move on from that."

The orange-clad man snorted loudly. "Really now?" Sarcasm laced his tone. "If that's the case, then what was with the hissy fit that you threw a couple of nights ago?"

Sasuke simply said, "Just remember to bring Hinata." And then he said nothing.

* * *

Naruto thought that Sasuke may have been the biggest idiot to have walked the earth. The irony was almost outrageous. Uchiha Sasuke was currently brooding miserably next to his girlfriend while she was having an animated conversation with Sakura and her date. Sasuke did not seem very happy with the intimacy that Sakura was sharing with her date. Uchiha Sasuke really deserved it.

Chuckling, Naruto bent down to whisper to Hinata how hilarious he thought the situation turned out. A hint of pink staining her cheeks, Hinata said nothing but nodded delicately to Naruto's comment.

"So how long have you and Aki dated? You guys seem very close," Sasuke's girlfriend, Masaki, inquired curiously.

Sakura and Aki exchanged secretive looks of surprise. "Really?" Sakura admonished earnestly, "Today is our first date." Aki smiled at Masaki, turned his attention to Sakura to give her a peck on the cheek. The pink-haired kunoichi smiled cheekily.

Sasuke slumped further into his seat. Masaki, Sakura, and Sakura's sorry excuse of a date seemed to click quite amicably. It didn't seem possible, but Uchiha Sasuke's mood was darkening by the minute.

Naruto gave Sasuke a hard jab in the ribs and grinned foxily at him when Aki gave Sakura a kiss. Sasuke was brooding even harder than before.

Standing up abruptly, interrupting the group's conversation, he excused himself. Masaki gave her boyfriend a happy nod before going back to chatting happily with Aki about Konoha's economic condition.

Sakura said nothing as she watched Sasuke's retreating back. Her eyes returned to the broody man's girlfriend; from her vivacious blue eyes to her pretty ebony hair.

After fourteen years, Haruno Sakura finally accepted that she would never be with Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

After a few weeks of training with her new team, Sakura's team had a mission…

Sakura and Aki's relationship was blooming beautifully. Throughout these two weeks, Aki and Sakura had gone on four dates, Sasuke had moved in with Masaki and still very much brooding, and Yuki was still being well…Sasuke… except with better hair.

All four dates had been a wonderful success much to Naruto's delight and Sasuke's dismay.

Sakura and Sasuke had not spoken since their "triple date". Sakura intended to keep it that way.

The mission that Sakura's team had been assigned to was an A-classed recon mission that lasted a month. Sakura had neither informed her team, her two ex-teammates, nor Aki about the mission.

For one, she had trouble getting an Uchiha Sasuke-wannabe to behave.

Two, though telling Naruto wouldn't be a problem, she couldn't just ignore Sasuke and leave Naruto to do her dirty work.

Lastly, she simply couldn't expect a civilian like Aki to understand the complexities of being a shinobi and expect him to understand her various extended absences from Konoha.

She simply was in quite a pickle. She had no idea who she should tell first. As she was watching her team spar, she wondered if she'd ever get Yuki to behave. She knew she wasn't Kakashi. She didn't have that kind of stick-up-the-ass patience that he was so famous for. She sighed quietly to herself.

_Guess I'll start with my team…

* * *

  
_

Hyuuga Hinata always saw people in a way most people didn't. So when Sakura turned up on her doorstep that night, she saw through the façade the pink-haired woman was attempting to put up.

When her boyfriend came to the door to see who had dropped by at such an untimely hour, she immediately saw the blond's anxiety at see his pink-haired ex-teammate.

Soundlessly, she retreated to give Naruto and Sakura privacy. A flash of displaced emotion crossed her eyes as she watched the beautiful pink-haired woman.

Naruto hurried anxiously to the door to greet the pretty woman. "Is there something wrong?" he asked worriedly.

Sakura shook her head. "I have a mission in Mist. I'll be gone for a month."

A flash of concerned crossed cerulean eyes. "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

Moving forward to give the pink-haired a woman a warm hug, he discreetly breathed in her scent. "Be careful."

"Will you tell Sasuke for me?"

Naruto contemplated her request for a moment. She was still within his embrace as he savored the feel of her skin against his body. "Sure."

And just like that, Haruno Sakura had passed on the dirty work to her best friend.

Hyuuga Hinata watched the entire exchange quietly. Naruto thought she was back in their bedroom. She knew who would come first in his heart. And she knew that she would always come second…

* * *

"I'll be gone for a month."

He seemed a lot more understanding than she initially thought. He gave a worried smile.

"I'll be here when you get back," he replied sincerely as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Sakura scanned the man critically before she decided to lean in and press her lips against his. Aki smiled into her lips, closed his amethyst eyes and inhaled her scent.

"Be careful," he whispered.

For that moment, all thoughts of Uchiha Sasuke escaped the pink-haired woman. Gorgeous amethyst eyes filled her thoughts and for the first time in a long time, she thought that just maybe, she could do this…

_I will…

* * *

  
_

Naruto had come to the conclusion that just maybe Sasuke was dating Masaki because of her cooking. As he slurped up another bite of ramen, curious cerulean eyes scrutinized the table. His girlfriend was quietly eating her ramen while Sasuke was broodingly poking at a tomato with a chopstick.

"Why isn't Sakura here today?" Sasuke's girlfriend asked curiously.

The dark-haired man seemed to snap out of his reverie to search for recognition to his girlfriend's question.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto exclaimed in between bites. Hinata sent him an affectionate smile, happy to see her Naruto-kun so excited. "She left on a mission this morning."

A flash of emotion crossed dark eyes as Sasuke carefully placed his chopsticks down. "Is she coming back tonight?"

Masaki glanced from Naruto to Sasuke, but kept quiet.

"She told me to tell you that she'd be gone for a month with her new team," Naruto said happily oblivious to the dark-haired man's reaction.

"When did she tell you?"

Thoughtfully, Naruto caught Sasuke's eyes. "Last night."

Sasuke said nothing as he picked up his chopsticks and continued to eat. Bright cerulean eyes surveyed the man, as Masaki excused herself from the dining table. She needed to go get some air.

* * *

I think I might want somebody to co-write this story with me.... Anybody interested? *hopeful smile


	3. Captain Cupcake

**SasuSaku Collaboration C-PF Multi-Chapter Piece**

**Title:** "To Unravel"  
**Nom de Plume**: LG55255525  
**Pairing: **Uchiha, Sasuke & Haruno, Sakura  
**Theme: **Romance/Twisted Humor  
**Rating/Info: **M (contains material not suitable for young impressionable minds)

**Disclaimer:** The manga "Naruto" belongs to Kishimoto, who is gracious enough to let fanfiction based upon his work to exist without any legal retribution. There is no financial gain on my part, nor is that my intention.

**Summary:** Sasuke was right. She DID inherent Kakashi's tutelage methods, in other words, his laziness. The worst part about this situation was that she felt as if her distaste in pornography was actually ruing the current moment.

It had been a long month. He had informed the Hokage, what seemed like just yesterday, that he was to be placed on as many concurrent missions as his clearance would allow this month. Pivoting on his foot, he let his commander know that this was not in any way, shape or form a request and from that, she so happy obliged him. He knew Masaki would fret all over him _yet_ again the minute she got home from...whatever it is that she did during the day. But that's not to say he wasn't prepared. His bloody and thrashed ANBU gear had been unceremoniously chucked off and littered about the main foyer the second he had walked though his front door. And so yes, he would know the exact moment when she arrived at his house where they both lived.

He wasn't being cruel about it. This act was multi-functional. More than anything, it was an unusually trying mission if you had the security level to be privy to it. In fact, the last stage in the assignment was so irksome, that it somehow had resulted in a crack in his chakra enforced Hebi mask..

That was an example of just how bad it had gotten. His clothing and travel pack were also in a like minded state of either heavy repair or complete replacement altogether. Frankly, he was surprised that the porcelain mask didn't completely shatter upon the impact that cracked it.

Did he think it was significant to that he had also caught glimpses of a certain pink haired Genin cell-mate on the odd number of outings with that lowly bartender say a month ago, which also caused nameless emotions with in his chest crack, as he watched undetected from afar.

Not at all.

What he did know was he was tired, he was bloody and all he wanted to do was sleep. His live in girlfriend could harangue him all she wanted to privately. That is whenever he awoke from the semi-coma that awaited him the second his head hit the sheets. Yes, she would be incredibly mad that he _again_ ruined a fifth set of sheets within the less than two months that they had lived in cohabitation in the stately but cold Uchiha Manor. She was a civilian. She didn't know any better.

That in itself was the essence of their relationship.

Either way he would deal with her complaints, his wounds and her sheets later. All he wanted was unconsciousness that was oh so precious to the Uchiha. He craved its bliss and sought it out relentlessly; through missions, training or imbibing. The end result was truly what mattered most.

As he lay prone on his belly, he could have swore that sleep had taken him over. However, the creak of the shoji screen alerted his shinobi senses that an intruder had impressed upon his eminent domain. Sasuke knew that once she saw the red on his alabaster skin, the shrieking would surely put off his bliss until a shower was taken. Possibly a trip to the hospital that included a tedious interaction with a lowly intern, seeing as his regular doctor was still a few days out of the village. Masaki had probably come in via the back way, through the engawas and missed his alert system while simultaneously foiling his plans of numbness. If he were a lesser man, he would have damned it all to hell.

He waited...

and waited...

For fear that it would jinx his threadlike hopes of precious unconsciousness, he kept his almond shaped orbs shut in a serene manor hoping for her "pity" to magically appear and decide upon not to waking him. Instead, the mattress dipped with the weight of another. That along with the sound of a metal object being placed on the bedside table.

It was definitely not Masaki.

Although she emitted all the qualities of a Yamato Nadeshiko in public, she saw no issue with complaining to Sasuke as she saw fit; which normally would run along the lines of typical civilian responses when confronted with his shinobi environments and repercussions. Sasuke felt her need to vocally worry and complain over his chosen profession, when faced with it's more unglamorous aspects, was her way of dealing with concepts completely and utterly foreign to the narrow bubble she resided in. Yes, he disproved of her behavior, yet he could never summon up the effort to correct her. It was a conundrum really...

But if this was Masaki on the bed, she would no doubt been yammering about her sheets and the blood and such.

Yet, there was only movement and silence.

This was not Masaki.

Now his highly ingrained shinobi senses, that fundamentally knew when he was in the presence of the enemy, were not going off. He knew without a doubt, he was not in the presence of an adversary. This was either Usuratonkachi or Hakate, although neither one of them would fit the weight distribution to his side. That would leave only one other to penetrate his iron clad defense subconsciously, but again _that person_ was still a few days out at most on a that stupid mission with the _other_ boy.

The sound of a terry cloth being rung out of excess water reached his ears, as it is a common sound for all nins returning from battle. He was shocked to feel two smooth legs wrap around his waist, only for the attached person to sit upon the small of his back. His left eye snapped open at the touch of the gentle, warm cloth grazing over his skin, to rid it's porcelain veneer of the enemy's blood and his own.

A million thoughts and emotions raced through the Uchiha's head, each one as nameless as the next. He did however not react when a familiar green chakra, that he knew as well as his own; flowed into his newly clean skin, soothing the body of the rips and aches it was currently afflicted with. The tiny swirls of relief flooded his soul not only with lovely endorphins but some sort of chemical that drew the stoic fan wielder to the edge of control.

Tingly...

Like chewing spearmint gum in cold weather; it stirred something primal in him he denied all the time.

Yes, this was not Masaki (if not for the fact that she abhorred blood of any kind) but that woman's touch was anything but soothing. Once and only once, had she given Sasuke a message after a mission. He really should send her over to Ibiki to give them pointers on refining his department's techniques for tight lipped detainees.

But this healing he was given and subsequent light message was nothing like the torture his girlfriend could cruelly and or lovingly duel out. This was the closest he got to peace while conscious. This was heaven in his sadistic and awful world. The stress and toil of the last month was literally and figuratively being lifted off his shoulders, as she moved to clean and message both hands and arms, only to move towards his neck.

Sasuke was an Uchiha and as such, he was above many thing. For all the nonverbal communication he spoke over the years, it was always of the refined "Hn" or "Aa". Grunts and or moans were something beneath him, as the Hyūgas were known to express these cretin expressions. Or so his father had told him.

But as both petite hands graced themselves along the back of his neck, a moan was on the tip of his tongue. Being that he was so overwhelmed by the sensations he was currently inundated with; his prodigal mind overlooked the serious lapse in protocol, as turned his face to the center of the mattress, bowing his neck for a complete stranger. It wasn't until the unknown assailant bent down and their rosette hair dangled just slightly in his peripheral view, that the moan escaped his lips and things spiraled from there.

Emboldened by his response, delicate fingers threaded through his ebony locks that were matted down slightly from the grim of ANBU style retreat. A part of him wanted, no _needed_ to see his angel as he again turned his neck to the left, in attempt to catch a glimpse of the benevolent soul. Except it took this movement to it's own advantage, only to slowly, gracefully fan a sweet hot breath along the nape of his neck and left ear. This caused a chain reaction of Sasuke subconsciously rolling his hips, that jutted the person on the top his back to move the mere millimeters of space between them, connecting a pair of lips to his ear.

His groan of unnamed zeal reverberated off the walls.

Within seconds of these dainty lips making contact with his ear lob, all sorts of catalysts were fired off. Light nips and timid licks graced all over his exposed left side as the slightly rough pads of finger tips massaged his scalp. He could tell obviously this was a kunoichi on his back, though his denial halted the overwhelmingly obvious evidence that supported this conclusion. Short, trimmed nails benevolently assisted the healing chakra in this scalp relaxation technique. He knew it wasn't some of those medieval plastic tips his girlfriend and her peers had a religious fascination with. There was one problem with this sort of third party repose.

Although what the nin was doing with his scalp was heavenly, every nip and every hot breath on his left side was leaving his body with a reoccurring affectivity...that this was somehow wrong and somehow right. All he knew was this dual agitation and that the blanket of pink fairy dust was blocking out everything but the thin tendrils of afternoon sunlight coming through the cracks in her halo of hair.

This was one of the rare moment that the last Uchiha experienced any thoughts of indecision. Lucky for him, the pink haired mistress decided for him.

It happened so quickly that even Sasuke did not understand what was happening until a few seconds later. He was flat on his back and another warm, clean cloth was being dragged across his chest ever so slowly. He decided to just close his eyes and let it be. And just like his back, his chest and stomach received the same type of duality that blurred the line of medical benevolence and scandalous seduction.

Sasuke could only think of a few times that he had been privy to Konoha's Sweetheart infamous medicinal massages. It was a standard thought throughout the city's elite nins that the reason why Hakate would push his body to such extremes on S-Class missions, was only to be on the receiving end of said experience. Yes, the copy nin would tow that line just to "possibly" be in the position Sasuke was currently in and risk her awe inspiring ire at the fact that Hakate just barely made it home in the first place.

Then again their sensei was stupid like that.

However, he was absolutely positive, no one had experienced the nipping and the warm breath like he had, when faced down on his stomach moments earlier. It was impossible. The sheer magnitude of what that would imply turned his gut into raw acid. Except that the attention being bestowed on his right hand drew him out of that type of revelry completely.

He zoned in immediately at the sheer luxuriousness of the terry cloth caressing his right hand. He knew it was not one of Masaki precious face cloths, as she kept them under lock and key after the second month of dating. He used one to clean a pesky wound on his leg at her apartment and his ears had suffered greatly for it. But these even smelt different. The typical whiff of spicy pepper and yuzu found upon entering the Junior Superintendent's office at the hospital was very familiar to him, seeing as he went there as much as he could over the regular ANBU ward when returning to his home in pieces.

But then there was the base level of her namesake's scent that was irrefutably kind and gentle mixed in. This was just a part of her inherit scent that unmistakably her. Outside the walls of his brethrens' compound in the domesticated wild that buffered the city with the rugged nature of the hidden leaves, was a grove of rouge cherry blossoms. During hanami, he would go there instead of going with the masses to view the blossoming trees along the promenades. As the wind would blow through the orchard, it would flood his olfactory senses with their scent...her scent. It reminded him of the nature that surrounded his native land, the scent that would pull at what little remained of his heartstrings when he deflected in his youth. It was one in the same, both concepts inherently tied together.

She was in fact, the essence of home.

_Eunymus japonicus_ is beautiful, but poisonous if ingested, was it not?

That was a part of his subconscious that rarely spoke, as he would deny it whenever it rose. Usually when he indulged every so rarely, in one of his favorite types of teas. Cherry blossom.

He knew she was pulling off the ungodly flashy ring Masaki had given him within days of their courtship. As the Dobe put it, it was like a dog marking her brooding red and white fire hydrant as her own. It was like this every time, but he just zoned out of that event until the sound of the metal hitting metal reached his ears. Ah yes, the dirty water with in the metal bowl off to the side. He only returned to the present when he felt a warm lick around his ring finger, signaling him of events soon to come.

The minty tingly sensation of her chakra was utterly desecrated as the the scorching trail of fiery passion she left in the wake of her caresses. From the tip of his right ring finger to the hollow in his collar bone, she lit a heat between the two of them that signaled the arrival of the proverbial line that both knew was about to be crossed. His hands threaded through her short and sassy locks, reveling in the fact that it was completely the antithesis of what he was brought up to understand what true beauty was.

Years ago, a tiny Sasuke had practiced his developing ninja skills by sneaking into his father's private office and consequently stumbled upon the Uchiha Clan Leader's prized shunga prints. They were ones with the typical inky long haired beauty with the stereotypical dark haired male beside her. In fact the first time he realized the sheer notion of procreation, was by looking at his father's lucky charm that contain a particularly erotic piece, that apparently his parent's had purchased together right after their wedding. True beauty was to be found in these paintings and only these women were worth the Uchiha name.

None of them had the lean muscle and curves of a kunoichi. None of them could defy the males in these prints. Not one of them could kill you just as easily as they could seduce you or any other aspects shown in these paintings. Furthermore, none of these women had pink hair.

All in all, she was everything he was trained to think was ill-desirable. Yet to him on a raw level that he could not ignore, she was the most tantalizing thing ever to grace his eyes. His body did not desire long willowy limbs, he wanted an equal in strength and in passion, something those women lacked. It was simply too bad that Uchihas had standards and that was that.

With all of her taut muscles and curves against the hard planes of his chest and abdomen, made for the cliché silk over steel nuance. But as his hands drifted from his beloved pink locks of hers only to wrap around the small of her waist via the strong graceful back, Sasuke felt that _this_ was what should be shown in those prints, that only_ this_ was grace personified. It was just one other thing that caused the stoic male to fidget when ever in hot weather. His pink haired former teammate was never one to not hesitate to shed a layer or two during a training session in the middle of August. This was when Sasuke first noticed the two dimples just above her arch at her waist that proved she was no stick figure like the woman waiting for him at home. Her body was stunning.

Much to Dobe's glee, a hardened glaze was sent to anyone stupid enough to make a crack about his long time girlfriend having the body structure of a pre-pubescent Nara. With all the jokes about his preference for the bodies of thirteen year old boys, the truth of the matter was his desires ran far from it.

His obsession with these two simple indentations proved it in his mind.

He hissed out a low hum of enjoyment at her own wandering hands drew more attention to his own waist, while juxtapositioning the similar nips and caresses that were slowly traveling in a southernly fashion. He loved the way she adored his body all while undulating her hips against his own. A particularly slow roll caused his own body to match her movement, as she gently shifted down to lavish attention on his obliques. The same ones that had resulted from a lifetime of shinobi servitude into the typical v like appearance. It was only then when the terry cloth returned to his body, to wipe below the waist of his pants meeting with coarse wiry hairs as it did, that Sasuke could not help but white knuckle the ruined sheets in anticipation. This was trailed immediately by butterfly kisses by his caretaker, as he knew what would happen next.

She would take control only to relinquish it in time. They were equals in passion and both would not have it any other way. It was the exact opposite of what occurred in his "normal" life. _That_ was the type of style that only the leader of Team Gai would deem thrilling. This was raw, loud yet completely fulfilling instead of the somber void he experienced with his chosen one...not that it went to this level. But still, such lovely things are not meant for the Uchiha.

What was happening in his bed was his own personal mono no aware. Like the blossoms that signified her name, these liaisons were short and fleeting, only to be followed by long periods of solidarity until nature and fate decided to let this passion bloom once again. It was all he was allowed to have, even if he was not worthy of the short time that it was.

He was out of breath as he clutched her head and her body tightly to his chest, both feebly attempting to calm their bodies down, yet refusing to let an millimeter of air come between them. The question remained, why would she seek him out ...but then again that was about known to him as why he allowed it to happen. He didn't. Either way he refused to think about things like that and instead focused in on etching this experience into his brain and onto his heart.

Try as he might, he knew that unconsciousness was upon him and when he awoke, she would be gone again. That is except for the single strand of hair, he had stealthy caught and wound around his left ring finger during her solo restorative to his body. It would be enough to assure him that when he awoke, it wasn't just a dream and no man; not even one with purple eyes, could take her away from him.

---55255525---

It was official. Mizu no Kuni was in fact the bane of Sakura's entire existence. To her hair that is. She always thought that every time she would need to go out past Wave country to, in her humble opinion, the blight upon the shinobi world, it would be far too soon. Damn the lazy Nara always taking up all the good Western Diplomatic Missions. Did anyone understand that a frizzy haired Hokage's apprentice was not a happy one?

She didn't think so.

What she knew for sure, was her new squad definitely knew so. However, it was interesting to note that one third of her cell decided that her unsightly hair was game to fodder about as they traversed Mizu's vast scattered islands, swamps and lakes.

It was then and there that her young and impressionable charges learned there are things you say on dry land and there are things you do not every wish to mention, when running atop a stagnant, lichen filled cesspool known a quaking bog.

And of course, it would be her hot shot rookie to learn this fact personally.

"Taichō, I heard that you happen to be friends with the yapping, harpy little blonde chit that runs the flower shop. Did she show you a fashion magazine and you thought no time like the present to try out the latest in hair styles or is what you have going on right now, just on a whim?"

Their pink haired leader currently leading the cell in the front flanking position, had suddenly and unceremoniously flicked out of sight. The three young men stopped immediately to quickly look around for their missing commander to no avail.

It was like a ghost or angel or something unworldly was watching the three men. The Hyūga turned to his teammate with his Kekkei Genkai alerted to investigate the area. After a fruitless scan, he hissed to his cell mate to apologize immediately.

"He's right you know," as Yuki felt the presence of something he could neither see or sense upon the back of his neck.

Whipping his head around, he could not see what was now in his blind spot, something that the other two of his two teammates were very much aware of, yet smart enough to keep quiet.

A very small, but very angry candy coated ram had suddenly appeared a few feet behind the cocky prodigy. Quicker that a bullet, it darted forward with chakra pulsing through it's two kawaii little curved horns. These connected with the back of Matsumoto's calves to short circuit his own chakra control, that was enabling him to stand above the murky bog below. Within seconds, his beautiful chiseled face was thick into the gook that coated the bottom of the bog, which was interesting to note was no more that a foot below the festering waters. Either way, it was just as disguising as something potentially much deeper.

Muck is muck...

The smell in itself was horrific, but the taste of whatever he subsequently inhaled via the shock of being knocked over was appalling. A pair of high heeled boots camp into view to take something off the top of his pack and then stand right in front of him.

As he eyes glanced up, he saw the pink haired temptress of his recent dreams with his canteen in her hands. Yuki could only watch in horror, as she unscrewed the top, only to pour all of it's contents into her other cupped hand. The little...well littler pink devil drank about two lapfuls of the precious mouth cleansing fluid before letting the entire contents flow and mix with the mess that he was currently face down in.

A depressing sight for Yuki indeed.

"Yuki-kun, thank you so much for giving your water to lil' Precious here. I'd perish the thought should he go dehydrated," sighing as she smiled brightly to her other two charges.

"Well we better get going if we're going to reach our designated checkpoint by nightfall...you two go on ahead," as both men did not hesitate for a minute to leach into a dead sprint in the direction she pointed to.

Now that the two of them were alone, albeit with a chibi dall ram, Sakura squatted down to face her wayward charge eye to eye.

"It looks like you got a little something on your pretty face there. Pity, here's a rag for you," as she took out a soft terry cloth washcloth out of her own pack, only to throw it haphazardly in the foot of muck between them, which soaking up the swamp's vileness instantly.

Rising up she gave a little stretch before making one last comment before she went after her "littler nicer boys" as she referred to them in her head.

"Best not to make any comment's about me that little old Precious here, might not like it. He's got a nasty temper, although I haven't the faintest idea where he got learned it from. Anyho, hurry up. You wouldn't want to be alone out here, without knowing where any fresh water is about. I know that shock drained almost all of what's left of your chakra. Pity if you should get stuck out here. I wonder how your fancy gel would hold up until then?"

The fire in her emerald eyes was unmistakable. It said very simply _'I will not put up with any of your shit for the month that we're stuck together, so grow a pair and man up.'_

Well more or less. However, the non-verbal response she got back, rattled her insides quite well...that is if she could drop her pride enough to admit it.

Many emotions flashed through the eyes of the boy in front of her. He might be cocky and beautiful like the last Uchiha but one thing was for sure. He definitely wore the heart on his sleeve. It was apparent at this time that Sakura learned one very important operative thing about her prodigal charge.

The boy was a masochist.

Standing up, as he wiped the grim off his lovely face and flicked the residue to the ground, as he gave a smirk that would have given Sasuke a run for his money.

Without any aggression in his voice, he spoke. "Taichō, may I just make it known how much I love your spunk. Truly...I admire a strong woman who can duel out anything. Still, you better catch up with twiddle dee and dumb before they get lost. I imagine the blue bloods would be mighty mad..." his voice trailing off slightly. Sakura however was just there standing trying to file everything she had just learned about her most difficult charge.

It was another moment before Yuki spoke again. "I'll catch up with you in no time. I do love a chase after all," he whispered softly as he took a step closer, bringing them within inches of each other. Completely disregarding the very angry mini sheep at his feet, he tucked on lock of hair behind her ear, before getting the reaction he craved since leaving the city's gate.

Verdant eyes widened ever so slightly, as she sucked in a gulp of air, backing up only to immediately transport away, leaving behind a storm of cherry blossoms in her absence.

Looking down at the fluffy bit of pink and horns, the two commenced in a silent staring contest which resulted in Yuki being the winner. That is to say that Sakura had summoned it again from afar and wanted it far away from her own capricious charge, but not before Yuki took a glance at the white circle on the crest of it's back.. It was then that he realized his captain was everything he expected her to be and could help but smile.

Crouching down to pick up her medical cloth, he took in the smell that was his first attraction to the sassy medic. It was both lingering in the soaked rag and in the aftermath of her jutsu. Sakura blossoms mixed with some sort of lemon oil and spicy white pepper. The sweet medical kunoichi of the fire. He liked his women with contradictions, just as the pixie that previously stood before him showed him just now.

He could only thank his lucky stars that old man Morino didn't take a liking to him or else god only knows that he would have most likely be stuck with Sakura's pole up his ass old cell mate for a captain. Funny how fate could be that way.

Matsumoto knew that Sasuke Uchiha was either just plain stupid or irrevocably fucked up in the head to make the same mistakes over and over, thinking that he and Sakura were a decade younger. Yuki would actual go after what he wanted. Denial could suit the Uchiha just fine, it wasn't for himself though; he would win because simply Matsumotos don't loose.

He waited a minute before deciding on a small mizu jutsu rid his body of gunk, while taking a solider pill to off set his lack of chakra. If he played his cards right tonight, he might just be re-enacting some of his favorite fantasies, mainly 'playing doctor' with Miss Haruno. It took him no more than half an hour to catch up to the rest of his team, which with his addition then turned into three hour dead sprint to their destination. He knew both Hyūga and Raigayashi were both attempting to burn a hole through his head, but what could he say that already hadn't been said. He had a kink for cruel women and this was all but a slice of heaven.

The four continued in companionable silence until they set up camp a short time later. Their Taichō had set off minutes later to a nearby free flowing steam to wash up first, and by doing so, leaving the three males to do all the grunt work for the necessities needed for a temporary base. She didn't deny this action. She was a student of the man whose main motivation to actually show up (albeit late) to teach thirteen year olds to throw kunais, was to synchronously read porn...in front of said children. Sure there were times when Sakura felt Hakate had a few wires crossed, but in her current situation, she was just following in the footsteps of her original predecessor.

It had absolutely nothing to do with avoiding a certain someone.

Sakura attempted to release all the tension in her frigidly cold excuse for a shower. She was too emotionally worked up to think about using her elemental inclination to do something about the temperature. It was if a taut coil was set within the hardened kunoichi's soul, and she was more than just wary of all things that could make it snap. Shaking her head lest his little game ruin her team's mission, the first long term one they had ever attempted, well that just wasn't going to happen. So, she marched to back to inspect her two boy's and the lone idiot's work.

Everything was more that satisfactory, although she doubted Yuki lifted even a finger to assist the other two. She helped her two nicer charges start a crackling fire with her elemental aptitude, only to turn towards the beautifully seasonally turning Amur Maple. It was as good of a spot as ever, to watch over team throughout the night.

Thirty minutes later, the two nice boys came over to inform her, that they wished to go wash up, _although_ they were asking if she would prefer to do this in shifts. The underlying proposition being 'would you like us to go separately, so you are not by yourself with him, because we do not mind'.

Sakura understood this immediately, but refused this selfish act. It was safer for all when separating to leave in even groups.

"Ah, I do appreciate the sentiment my sweet boys but I'm fine. I have a bunch of encoding to do for Shishō so shoo, take your baths...you both stink," she responded playfully, as she let her eyes express the gentle non verbal gratitude she felt towards their kindness.

Both young men begrudgingly left, but no more than a minute had passed since their departure, when Yuki sauntered up to sit dead across from his team leader. Silence ensued as she spread out her paperwork out in a half moon foot of space surrounded her perch at the base of the maple.

A symbolic line not to cross although she doubted he'd take the hint.

Sakura didn't acknowledge him, not that Yuki made any move for conversation. This stalemate only lasted for a few moments as both freshly bathed members of the cell, literally flew back into the small clearing quicker that Sakura thought possible.

Raising her head to take in both her charges she smiled "You both sure you didn't miss any soap in your attempts for quickest bath ever. We do have a member of the squad who will call you out if your hair looks like crap on a cross country mission you know. Imagine the embarrassment on something so important," as she looked down halfway through her little jibe to concentrate on her work. "Both of you may turn in when you wish, but I'll make you up when it is your turn for watch."

There was a sort of mumbled grunt and "Yes Taichō," with dual glares at Matsumoto in response but eventually she heard the two go off a ways away to settle down for the night. It was until both teammates still not in their sleeping mats heard the slight snores from those who who were, that Yuki moved to stretch his arms and get up..

"Well, I'm going to go take a bath to really get off the grim I still feel is all over me. But don't worry Cupcake, I'll be back soon," as he turned to walk away.

_'What did he...Cupcake...bastard'_

Settling on having the last Sakura nearly growled her response, "And you decided not to go with your fellow cell mates when they went to wash up because?" leaving her question to permeate the silence around them.

"I think that's obvious."

….

"Well I'm just praying the Hyūga did in fact leave some nasty proctor issued soap in his beloved tresses, so tomorrow, he will be overly concerned with correcting the amount of greasiness in his hair _and then_ I can prove to him with what I see before me, that he is in fact as vain as he calls me."

"But you are Matsumoto."

A light chuckle was not the response she was expecting. "I never said I wasn't although truly...we can smell are own. Likewise, we can smell those that aren't, literally...sadly enough. I just found it rather funny that he said he was not like me, well inferring that I was vain. Yet, to say that a Hyūga isn't vain is like saying Uchihas don't have poles up their arses 18 out of the 24 hours in the day, when you factor in sleeping times...well I'm off to work on my own personal hygiene. Take care of yourself Cupcake, I hate to face lil' Precious should something happen to you."

"Cupcake?" her voice coming out as a strained, indignant squeak.

But he was long gone.

As she sat in the silence of the clearing, she pondered what to make of all this. Matsumoto wasn't flirting with her...was he? She knew she had a promising interest at home with a certain amethyst eyed bartender, but now a cocky young charge who was for all purposes, was making quasi-direct passes at her? No, she was obviously suffering from Naruto's "quaintness" by osmosis or something. Then again, for all that potential of love in her near future, she still feared that her heart might still...maybe...perhaps belong to a certain someone who was so stuck in his ideology, that he couldn't see that he was outright miserable.

She was getting better though. This wasn't a lie.

In the few outings that she had gone out with Aki, he had promptly pointed out some behaviors of the last Uchiha that Sakura had noticed, but not necessarily came to the same conclusions as he did, as an outsider with no prejudices.

Or past decelerations of thirteen year old passionate undying love.

Still, she was not as giddy about his opinions as one would first assume.

The funny thing was how he explained why he shouldn't really even speak to Sakura about this. It did open other doors that could lead to them not being together. Then again, he was a laid back sort of male and he knew all past flames aside, only time would tell for him how he felt about Sakura in the long run.

What he did say was the man in question, drank a lot and alone and never with his mate. It wasn't until Aki met the other girl, that he knew for sure, well what he had always thought about the lone regular at his bar was true. Sasuke was a man conflicted.

Aki said that he knew the type well. He was one in that very instant. Conflicted that is, not a petulant child like the Uchiha. Do you tell the girl you like about the competition in the shadows, literally watching them from afar? Or do you keep your mouth shut? He decided on the former as it was best in life to deal only in truths. And the fact remained that the Uchiha had something going on for her former teammate. If he was to actually recognize this fact AND grew the balls to do something, well if it happened, Aki preferred to be on steady ground with Sakura that included complete trust. And so he had his decision to not lie about the whole topic, as she fired off questions about his opinions on their pre-date before the real Masaki imposed triple date.

He said it just wasn't the right thing to do as a man; to lie to the woman your next to? It was wrong no matter what.

This in itself, was one of the things she loved about the man already. With the other two being both sides of the same bastard prodigy coin (I.E loud or introverted) everything was hazy. Aki let her know exactly as he felt without any pretense at all. It was truly refreshing.

On the other hand, when Naruto came to watch her team's last practice session, he picked up on one thing very quickly. That Yuki Matsumoto was in fact the Teme's doppelgänger. For everything that the Uchiha was: reclusive, nonverbal and strangely modest; Yuki was in your face, brassy, and boastful.

Yet both were prideful, perfectly beautiful and strong genius shinobi.

Her heart's brother thought it was just cruel that nature and fate had conspired against his poor beloved city to deal it's people two Temes among the general populous.

She had another great point about the two men before a plop of water splattered inches away from her work.

At that moment she only knew two things. One, that her previous point about the two raven haired males was utterly wiped from her minds. And two, she was absolutely positive that there was a huge blush across as her cheeks as she was greeted with the sight of a dripping wet Matsumoto, clad in precariously low hung sweatpants with a plum in one hand and what looked like a furoshiki wrapper bento in the other.

"Hey Cupcake. Want some really good food? I know your always nagging your nurses and medics not to rely on those weird bars, but I know I can't eat all this. Be a great waste of proper carbohydrates, vegetables and proteins. Fifteen minute break and I leave you alone to your encoding for the rest of the right?"

Sakura however, was to busy blatantly staring at the evil water that was still dripping from his tussled hair down across the many rips of his washboard abdomen.

"I guess I'll take that as a yes, I packed an extra pack of chopstick just for this occasion."

"And just what occasion is this?" still entirely focused on his stomach.

"My first bit of alone time with you, Miss Haruno," as he paid her no mind when she sucked in another gulp of air. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes, as he twisted and turned to set out the two layered bento in the space that he had cleared to eat, paperwork be damned.

He knew that his captain was shell shocked at seeing him so nice and wet and really this was just this quickest way to start the night.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her down to sit and handed her a pair of chopstick. "I hope you like the combined efforts of my Kaa-chan and me. See the sugar snap peas are..." but she cut him off before he could get started.

"Excuse me, did you say your kaa-chan?" knowing that if she could keep the subject matter on parents and mothers of all non sexual things, she might just wiggle her way out of this mess with her dignity in tact.

"I believe I did. Now that we're living together, we spend what little time we get, always in the kitchen. Always, the kitchen. In the three months before I first moved out, at what...thirteen, Kaa-chan would round me up from the practice field and march me into the kitchen to teach me how to cook properly. She put her foot down with my Otou that said there was no way I could live alone, if I couldn't feed myself. So I learned."

Processing all of the information she found her loophole. "But you're living with her now?"

"Oh course. Now, I know you read my file, so I know that you know my father was killed just over two years back during one of those joint ANBU missions with some of the smaller countries. Well my Otou was on the last one before they stopped those types of expeditions because one of the other cells from grass or something, got bought out by a syndicate and killed the entire group as the bastard took his watch."

The color from Sakura's cheeks drained at the thought. There went her escape clause.

Except Yuki paid it no mind and continued on like he was talking about happier topics.

"It was like a week before I was going to take the Jonin exam and some of the first stages of ANBU testing...but anyways, after it happened my Kaa-chan refused for me to move back in. Something about not wanting to spoil my "freedom"...But after about six months of seeing her mourning by herself, I just showed up one day with all of my stuff and cooked her dinner like my Otou did."

"Your father would cook dinner," as she knew she shouldn't have asked an open ended question, but the thought of a son, no matter how rude on a mission, moving back in to take care of his widowed mom touched Sakura deeply.

"Yeah, sorry I guess I'm getting ahead of myself, but when I would come home on weekends to spend time with my parents, I would use my newly found culinary prowess to cook our breakfast, which much to my father grin and my mother's dismay, I think it is the most important meal a man such know how to make," as he paused for an few seconds to let the ramifications set in

As soon as he received his desired blush on his captain's cheeks, he continued yet he also motioned for her to eat.

"Now my Kaa-chan would always make our bentos to show the world that somebody loved us and my Otou whenever he could, would make dinner to show he would still would not only provide for the family, but help it out in any way he could. If he couldn't handle a vacuum cleaner, at least he could tackle the rice cooker for Kaa-chan."

Sakura looked at the male in front of her wondering how much was he a product of his environment. "That sounds very nice, I'm sorry to hear it-" but he cut her off.

"It's in the past and we're all shinobi. We know the risks but anyway. These are my homemade tsukemono that my Kaa-chan so beautifully arranged over rice and in the next box is her wagashi candies she makes on the weekends, next to my beef stir with 7 vegetables."

It smelt delicious even at room temperature, although she did have one question.

"And the rice is pink because?"

"Well doesn't the green look fun against the pale pink rice. I must say I'm having a bit a love affair with those colors myself during the past few months, I can't wait for Hanami really."

She always thought that Sasuke's stare should be illegal, for the increased heart rate it caused it's gaze-ee to suffer with. She now had another person to add to that list of people who are just to damn pretty to stare...wait did she just...no she would focus on the rice. "And how does one make pink rice...excuse me pale, pink rice?"

With a wicked grin he took a vicious bite out of innocent plum, letting just a bit of juice dribble down his chin, that should have come off loutish, but instead looked sexy as hell. Swallowing slowly, he told her. "A bit of food coloring. My Kaa-chan retired a few years back to open up her own shop specializing in treats and bentos, so she has lots of tricks and ideas for things to jazz up lunches."

"Is that just around the corner from the apothecary?" as Sakura regained focus on something platonic.

"No, clue. I do know it's right around the bend from your friend's flower shop."

Sakura fought the urge to smack her head. "Which in itself is across the street from from the apothecary. You know the blonde chit you referred to earlier. Well her name is Ino and she is always raving about that store. Something about your the owner being top of the charts with the Kunoichi Arts. I barely passed myself but is that true?"

A truly happy smile, not a smirk, bloomed on Yuki's youthful face at hearing the praise for his mother, which in itself nearly melted Sakura into a pile of goo.

"Yeah, the powers that be would always send Kaa-chan in disguised as a cook or just hired help for espionage, but after my Otou-san...she just couldn't. So your master let her go, which is why I respect your Shishō more than you'll ever know. But anyway, how do you like it?"

She looked down to see the mosaic of sorts painted upon bed of pale pink rice. A multi layed sun shined down upon a scene of abstract flowers placed in a very pleasing manner. Green and pink just like he said.

"It is very pretty, thank you for sharing," ask she took a bite of the tender, moist and usually colored rice. It was a delicious.

"Good?" Although it was a really a statement not a question. He knew both he and his mother's cooking was divine, but it was just like his personality to state the obvious like that.

Sakura sat there sampling the bits of everything, trying to clamp down upon the smile that was bursting from the wonderful treats her taste buds were experiencing. Yuki however, was just as content to watch her silence occasionally chewing on the plum, watching as each bite he took, the emerald eyes that watched his own munchings like a hawk. That is until she had finally finished everything, except the delicate little candies made by his mother.

"You know, those little things pair really well with a fresh plum...or so says Kaa-chan. But here's the thing. I only have one bite left...and this is a very good bite. How about I give you this bite and I'll even apologize for my teasing earlier, if you heal this welt I got from your furry little friend today?"

The watchful eyes instantly turned fearful at this confession.

"The chakra scalpels caused a welt? I mean it's not a true chakra scalpel but oh no...it caused external damage!?!" as her inner was chanting one word only.

_'Shit...Shit Shit...Shit'_

The man had the gall to break out in another award winning grin.

"Oh so that was what that was? Really Cupcake you are something else. Enabling your secret summons's horns with god damn chakra scalpels...and your old sensei told me you were a dog summoner. Anyways, are you going to take my apology and plum and heal me oh powerful team leader and medic or are you going be baffled all night? I really need some medical attention real bad..."

So many things were whirling in her head at this moment, namely the piece of fruit he was extending to her which she had no doubt, he would hold on to and make the act some sort of sensual feeding.

But Sakura's logic was much quicker than his planning.

"Why the one bite of food Yuki. Why didn't you just barter the box over the damn bit of plum. That is if you in so much pain?"

_'Dear entity up stairs hopefully watching over me, please, pretty please let him being bullshiting. I will sacrifice my weight in livestock or whatever it is that your supposed to like, if you just please let him be joking.'_

"Ah, come on Cupcake. I know you know the answer to that. Even if we're alone, I still would like to send a message out that someone in fact does think a great deal about you. We both know that bento was for you regardless of this welt. I packed it before that pink bit of fluff hit me. I think, it's high time you learn that the men who have taken your fancy for quite some time now, really aren't worth it if then never cared enough to say to the world: Look at all the effort I'm going to...just for her...just for her to eat it in a while. I know my family life revolves around food in ways other's don't, but I think the message is clear right?"

"This," indicating the fruit, "is just desserts."

And then it took a turn for the worst.

"Where are you hurt?"

Famous last words really.

She almost bowled over in disbelief when his arm pointed to the right side of his groin.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," she said almost silently. "Really...there?"

"Sorry Cupcake. When...Precious was it...?" after waiting for her nod, he continued "Yes, well after dear precious Precious decided to rid my body of the ability to stand, I fell with all my weight into that lovely bog back there, which I'm not sure if you were aware of, but was a bit rocky underneath."

He then grabbed the center and left side of his waistband while pulling down the right side another inch or two to prove his point. After removing a mass of halfway soaked bloody gauze, she saw what he was talking about It wasn't just a welt. It skin was torn front the bottom of his jutting pelvic bone to dangerously close to a very delicate personal area.

"Why?" she asked the sky out loud before turning to her charge. "Alright, since I've obviously squished too many defenseless cockroaches in my last lifetime, please lay down," as she desperately attempted to go into medic mode to try to contain the blush rapidly spreading across her face. Well that and avoiding the half grin adoring his baby face.

_'Ok, you can do this, fix the cracked bone here, reduce the swelling there, so that really is his natural hair color right there and why isn't he wearing any...wait bad Sakura...bad...not helping' _as her inner was just about having kitten at being at such close proximity to all of his bare chest and chiseled abs and well...naughty bits as Ino-pig was one to say.

After three minutes, he propped himself up on his elbows, with the last bit of plum in his hand, enjoying every minute of the game known as Blackmail The Guilty Medic. She was absolutely adorable when flushed. He made it a note to be shirtless more often. But back to the flush, and not having that gene that tells you when to stop, he decided to play his next favorite game.

"So Cupcake, so are you going to leaving me hanging?"

Yes, the game of Innuendo.

Pink hair whipped around as she was as red as her clan's primary color. "What!" as she bolted up to create some distance between them.

"Quite down Cupcake, you'll wake them," as he too got up to stalk towards her with the bottom bento box in his hand. Looking at it's contents, he spoke to his target. "Now, take...hmm the middle piece."

She knew he probably was not going to move in inch till he had his fun, so she just took the beautiful wrapped gift immediately.

Smirking again at her cooperation, he continued "Now take a bit of that...and then take a bite of this," as he spoke the second part as she was mid bite of the candy. That's when he saw the beautiful green orbs widen in fear as she was now backed up against the tree with a piece of fruit in front of her face.

"It's all about trust Taichō...I hate to see you snub mine...it's just a tiny bite for me and I'll be a good boy I swear." The man had the nerve to give the biggest puppy dog eyes she had seen outside of Kakashi's one eyed attempts. He was pretty adorable, not that she'd admit that...

Truly he was a bastard.

But she was trapped physically with the tree and the papers and well by him and with his words too...

Surely, a twice dammed bastard...

Her brain swirled with the efficiency of Nara's weighing the pros and cons of each of the few options she had. She came to the conclusion, although not the best one right now, it would cause the least problems in the long run. Not that she liked it at all...

Yet, she slowly nibbled off a tiny bite of the last bit of fruit...the look in his eyes was positively feral sending a pool of desire in places you should never have in the middle of nowhere, in the heart of the bane of your existence, from a now thrice damned bastard.

Yes, damn the bastard to hell. He was right and the smirk on his face reveled he knew that too.

He slowly looked over the bit left over to seductively eat the last bit in one bite, while never taking his eyes off her. He chucked the bit into the darkness and slowly licked each one of his fingers clean of the juice. They stood there staring for a while in silence before Yuki took the remaining wrapped wagashi out and dropped them onto the top of her pack.

"In case you get hungry during your work. Let me know if you want any more juicy fruit to go with them. Sleep well Cupcake-Taichō." as he grabbed the remaining bento box and handkerchief.

_'Did he just call me...Captain Cupcake...oh hell no...that's it...pretty boy is dead.'_

"Ok, Matsumoto, what in the hell is up with that name!?! I cannot tell you how disrespectful it is to call your commanding officer a pet name of _that_ caliber. So explain now and then never use it again. Understood," as she practically fumed out her ears on the spot.

And then he did something that Sakura would never forget.

He stopped to tell her the response over his shoulder, but all she saw was someone who looked a lot like a distorted Sasuke, telling her she was annoying, even though the lips did not match up with the voice in her head.

The look of concern flashing through his obsidian eyes drew her out of unpleasant memories.

"I'm sorry what did you say," as she lightly shook her head and sat back down against the maple.

Tilting his head to the side to figure out the puzzle she had so graciously given him, he answered. "It's not important right now. Just something personal that will be only between me and you...the first of many really things of that nature, but are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost Sakura."

Breathing out the air that she was apparently holding in, she decided on what type of response to give. She settled on a classic. "It's nothing," as she said while hiding her face from his view, shuffling through her paperwork.

Yuki Matsumoto however, was not convinced. He knew she failed to hear him equating her with his favorite dessert, but what bothered him more was her shutting down like that. He knew it had to do with the Uchiha. Yet, it was only a matter of time till he figured it out. When he got back, it looked like he would be helping his mother with some more god awful saury and red miso to get the answers. Till then he hunkered down for the night, but not to sleep. He would watch her own chakra flow till she herself had woken up the Hyūga and drifted off into an fitful sleep. Because she was cherished, whether the bento had told her or not.

So just like almost every mission she had been on since she was thirteen, a pair of obsidian eyes watched over her, silently guarding as she slept. It just happened to be a different pair then usual.

---55255525---

_'He's back early'_

The next Lady Uchiha was treated to a literal barrage of bloody and worn scraps of canvas and cotton. Being raised within a wealthy merchant family, she was never trained to deal with the sight of blood, regardless of whose it was. She always thought her beloved Anata was just _slightly_ touched in the head, when he could proclaim for to stop her shirking because it wasn't "his blood".

Blood was blood.

And blood to Masaki was something she would never get her head around. Walking around the explosion of shinobi gear as if it were poisonous, she instinctively got upset at the lack of respect Sasuke had once again shown her. Not that she was a maid, no she had Sasuke pay for that. She was never trained to be anything but a débutante. Yet, the maid shouldn't have to deal with all of this icky blood either. Couldn't the city just set up strategic showers that all shinobi had to pass through when reentering the village. It was save both of them lots of Sasuke's money when it came to replacing quality linens.

Her mood had officially gone for irate to downright moody. Now that she was in the privacy of her own home, she could show it. It was quite possibly the worst day ever. Her masseuse was sick and she was treated by her lowly apprentice who was absolutely horrid. Didn't she know you had to put some muscles into a back massage. No, no one understood that but her usual girl. Then her manicurist was out of the length of nails she liked and had to settle for another shorter length. AND it would be another two days until her next usual appointment. Then the woman had the gall to tell her it really didn't matter because they would just be changed within 48 hours.

Did the old hag not understand she had an image to upheld? So realizing she was under house arrest until then, Masaki realized she would have to cancel on the usual outing to the onsen with her girlfriends. This put her in a even worse mood, only to realize Sasuke was now home to strew bodily fluids over her entry way and then he would ignore her as he always did, as she too had to be cooped up in the house for the next two days because her nails.

_And_ she had things to gossip to her girlfriends about. After years and years of denial, her childhood friends had convinced her to seek out a dinner date with the elusive Sakura Haruno to see just what this woman was like around her Anata.

She finally had gotten her way and there was no one to tell it too.

All of the girls had been in Wind at a social function with the dynamos for the last few weeks. But Sasuke being Sasuke, had a rule that if he could not physically accompany her, she was not to leave the city hidden in the leaves.

And they just came back and now she couldn't receive all the attention she _knew_ the story would give her. It had be a point of discussion for years between her group. Couldn't the spa manager understand this?

Simply put, she always thought there was something "improper" about Sasuke and the Haruno. but she was always willing to put up with it, for she was his genteel mate in the public's eye. And that was what mattered. This was the one thing her mother stressed to her growing up, as she was in the same situation...rather the same situation with verifiable proof of her father's infidelity. The mistress had her own wing in the manor; the one she shared with Father. Her mother had her own to live alone in.

Around half of the high class marriages were like the one in which her parents lived under. That as well as half of Masaki's inner circle, were one of deceit, infidelity and lies. Deep down she understood that when relationships were founded upon documents, power and money, that love would not stand a chance against these things. Such was the fate of the blue blooded. Yet, her mother had always said that in order to live the lifestyle they both cherished, came a sacrifice.

Your pride.

As long as you had the title and your way of life, well was there really any alternatives?

So you buried the hurt of being not good enough and cried all the way to your well padded bank.

Except, Masaki herself was a rarity among all débutantes. Perfect in breding and manners, looks and status. How could something short and pink take precedence over her...but to acknowledge fault or ire in someone the likes of Sasuke Uchiha was like to place ones self in the snake's cages and work them into a frenzy. All probability stated they would lash out and either poison you and or snap you in half vis-a-vie suffocation.

So she was in denial, although she never found any lipstick or disgusting pink hairs at his house when she would snoop. But then again, they were both ninjas. It was only when they would go on those stupid missions together, that she was unable to track her as she spent her well earned allowance from her father to keep tags on Konoha's Sweetheart at all times, when she was within the city.

Again to have someone tail Sasuke was just asking for trouble.

The only problem was as much as she hated to admit it, that pink hussy was in demand of all the elite shinobi and notable civilians alike. Yet, she remained unattached and unconflicted for whatever reason. Her girlfriends would argue that she was still in love with Masaki's betrothed, just as she had been since she was a little girl with a forehead a mile wide. But for as determined as she was in her professional life, all the females in Masaki's group had failed to figure out the reason in this not correlating to a passion into her love life. Sakura never openly went after Sasuke, so how could that woman who had all of the grace of a bull in an china shop, not go after what she wanted...if she was indeed in love with Sasuke.

There were the first few years when her girlfriends had proposed Sakura a lesbian. Then came the just asexual ideas, workaholic theories, that she was outright naive only to be discarded in place of the theory that she had one too many early kunoichi missions that scarred her for life. But she remained as social unstilted as always, if not brassy like she inherently was.

Then finally, when Sasuke had been particularly distant in March a few years back, for whatever reason really, that the girls had broken down and gave her "The Talk".

The one all of them knew and sadly half of them had already heard personally in their own lives. She might not have his heart but you have the purse strings spiel.

She tried to accepted it as her fate, but just couldn't put the theory into practice.

Masaki really could only accept it if she knew why. She caught the vague glimmers of emotion that Sasuke would show when she was mentioned in passing by his Dobe. But she needed to know why. Why would he chose her, when really nothing was standing in his way of make super shinobi babies with Sakura when he finally got around to his second life goal?

So she began nagging for the last two years to hang around his cell mates more often, and low and behold she got the chance. The triple date; as she found out after she arrived. It was hard for her to admit, but Sakura was just like the whole town painted her to be. Exotically beautiful, smart and kind. And the bitch had a hot male on her arm, who obviously had passion for her AND it was only their first time dating.

Life was truly cruel. Sakura not only had a real career, a real purpose as a healer, but all the hearts of all the men in all the Greater Shinobi Nations.

So cruel.

Reflecting back, she was truly thinking the worse, but that she saw with her own eyes that Sasuke was not cheating on her with Sakura. He never had been, that was easy to see with Sakura's unconscious ease at the table. Even Uzumaki, the boy who Masaki felt still had a bit of a thing for the pink haired girl..._even_ when with her fellow débutante Miss Hinata Hyūga, was still eying Sakura and her date with the exact same wistfulness that Sasuke was watching her with .

But it was not returned whatsoever to either of the men. Instead she had kept the conversation with her date and Masaki. Then there was the bit of pity shown through her eyes to Masaki herself when Sasuke had left the table to brood somewhere.

And that was the tipping point. She didn't want her pity. She wanted her hate.

But there was nothing in Sakura's mind to be jealous of.

It was worse that for some reason

She always felt that even if they we're having an affair, she would still keep the title. She was still going to be the future Lady Uchiha.

At least she could revel in the pain of the "other" woman not being good enough to be on his arm. The fact remained, the Sakura she met that night, didn't want to be...

Instead, she obviously had some sort of connection with another male who was not her Anata. If not a blossoming love, the woman was on the receiving end of passion at least. Just another reason to hate the bitch; Sasuke had never ever been affectionate with her in public. That man that night adored her, cherished her...that beautiful man couldn't keep his hands off her.

She was second in Sasuke's eyes, not tied with the slight edge of a title...the one thought that had kept her going all these years was a lie...

And now she had ugly nails and stuck with a grouchier by the day Sasuke, who apparently was wounded. Ergo would be at home resting, even though she knew it was like a jail for him to be here in this house and she his warden.

So to restate her comment at the spa early, yes her nails were a big deal. They were her freedom and due to some insolent fool in shipping, she was stuck with her emotionless snake of a boyfriend.

Either way, she knew she _should_ like the good future wife and see if Sasuke was bleeding out on her sheets again. If he was, so help her, she was punting him to the hospital like she always did, only to let him in if he had new sheets or if it was worse enough, a new mattress.

Yet, as she approached the door, she heard a moan that Uchihas do not make regardless of the situation. Namely, any situations in the bedroom. She knew first hand, she heard crickets during the one time they had even slightly become intimate.

What if Sakura was behind the screen? A million thoughts raced alongside that main one. Her deep seated fear of being second best, ignited the adrenaline that spurned on the one thing he mother had warned her against years ago.

Pride.

Masaki however was far beyond reproach, as she retched open the shoji screen to see a topless man in what appeared to be a very heated dream.

The only problem was he was covered in her most feared fluid and wondered if he had been poisoned with some strange kunoichi drugs or if he was just in a weird fervor. The smell of sweat, iron and pheromones had flooded the air almost making the socialite give an uncouth gag at its overwhelming presence.

She stood there for a while as he ripped at the cording in a nearby pillow only to wrap the tiny string around his ring finger. She had seen this end behavior before, just not understanding why, whenever she would surprise him in the morning with catered breakfast, all the ripped pillows.

"Ouka," as he keened into the silence of the room

In a way she was upset and in a way she was relieved. He hadn't cried out the pinkette's name, yet blossom could refer to both of them. In fact, the tree after her own name has beautiful flower minus the fact that they are completely poisonous, but really that name meant nothing...

Or so she told herself.

She watched as her beloved grasped the now ruined pillow and held it tight to his body. Knowing she would learn nothing more by watching him hug a pillow in a death grip, she walked over to his side of the bed to shake him awake.

It was always interesting to watch a shinobi awaken from slumber with an outside stimulus. Normally her Anata would grab whatever nearby weapon immediately. But this time, his body was still swirling with such endorphins, that even with Masaki jarring at his shoulder, it took awhile for him to reach full consciousness.

Sasuke looked up to view the prized beauty he would be tied to for the rest of his life and emitted nothing. Instead he waited for her to speak.

"Anata, you are all bloody and sweaty. I think you should go to the hospital because there's a lot of blood in the hallway and I'm not a nurse and you need to go get new sheets because where am I going to sleep and what if your poisoned but don't know it and...whose going to take care of me if you die and -"

The Uchiha had enough. Taking in his environment and situation. He spotted three main problems. The only way to get out of this, was to get the woman out of his room.

"Masaki, go downstairs to get me a glass of water. We will go to the hospital after I wash off."

She took a step forward to brush his sweaty cheek. "Do you need any help in the shower love?"

There was no way in the seven levels of hell.

"Masaki, go downstairs to get me a glass of water...now," as this was not a request even when spoken softly.

Again it was all she needed to be reminded of her place and why she was here. After her exit, he took all of his sheets and bedding, including the now defunct pillow and placed it with his soiled clothing into the huge bathtub. The medicinal soaking tub a certain medic had installed years ago became a now perfect fire pit to destroy all evidence of this incident. A simple fire jutsu engulfed the entire lot, as the comforting smell of ash overtook the smell of infidelity and blood. He watched from the nearby glass shower as the fire eventually turned everything into dust as he sat waiting for it to run it's course only to extinguish it with another well place mizu jutsu.

As he later entered the kitchen, Masaki wordlessly handed him the requested glass of water only for him to set it back immediately down. As she made no effort to shoo him out the door, he decided to let her know it was time to leave.

"We shall leave to go to the hospital now."

"Yes..err no, I can't Anata."

Still as emotionless as ever, he asked the question why with a slight tilt of his head.

"Well look at me," as panic filled her eyes, wondering why her genius boyfriend hadn't already noticed her obvious flaw.

He gave her once glance. She looked as she always did. Grossly underweight for her height, yet polished with impeccable hair, makeup and clothing. She looked like she always did in his house, with a lemon lodged in her throat.

Silence over took the couple ,as she extended one expertly manicured hand.

"I'm failing to make a connection Masaki. Explain."

"My nails are five centimeters too short. This is not proper and I have to wait a whole two days for the next shipment to come in to fix my nails. So I can't go out because-"

Again Sasuke cut her off. Very confused at what did or didn't just happen, he slipped out of his usual routine and gave, for him, a long biting response.

"I need sleep now, yet I know you won't let me do this until I get you new sheets and get a clean bill of health from whatever incompetent fool is running the hospital now. So every second you sit in that chair, is a second I loose sleep, and I also should not have to remind you that I need your assistance at hindering the fanatical nurses at the hospital in case Sakura is _not_ there. You do understand this or has your lack of length in acrylic nails impairing your pre-frontal cortex abilities Masaki? We are leaving now." as he gave her not one glance and turned to march right down the hallway, out through the foyer, tracking blood out the door as he went.

Masaki could do nothing but scramble for a pair of gloves before trotting after him, as she fretted at just what had happened.

Normally, Sasuke could not be bothered to rebuke her for her civilian ways. Something had happened. Something had changed and she needed to find her contact immediately to find out just what it was.

Later on at the hospital, after being securely tucked away from prying nurses, Sasuke sent his girlfriend away with his wallet to pick up whatever she wanted in terms of bedding. He watched as the lord willing, heterosexual male medic, took over his case.

The medic noted some irregularities with his heart rate and issued a simple blood test and looking at his extensively large file.

So as Sasuke Uchiha waited, he sat staring at the bit of cloth still wrapped around his finger. Over the years, this phenomenon had occurred off and on. He never knew what she was playing at, but deep in his heart and deep in his study, tucked away from Masaki's prying eyes was a small chest, where the lot of them were hidden from his own mind.

The medic returned with a vile of pills in one hand and Sasuke's massive folder in another.

"Let's see here Uchiha-sama. Shall we wait for your...umm the lady you were with...shall we wait-"

"No. Continue."

The medic knew he was screwed the minute he had been handed the case. Channeling his inner pink haired senpai he told the last Uchiha on his findings.

"Two things really; there is something about your heart rate that is not normal. Although the preliminary screens found no immediate danger of imminent hair failure; there were still a few things that I would like to process, which in itself, takes time. I'll be sending over the finding to your regular medic when Haruno-senpai returns to work, although if something is found before her return, I will contact you immediately."

"What is the main concern?"

"Anything from hereditary cardiovascular disease and or more specifically cardiomyopathy...Might I ask you how much do you imbibe with alcoholic beverages on a weekly basis?" as he didn't dare look at his patient in the eye when he asked the question.

It was at that time, that the temperature dropped drastically in the small sterile white room. Truly, it was not this medic's day.

"What are you implying?"

_'Do not show fear to him. That is what Sakura-chan told us on our first day. Okay...not showing fear...right.'_

However looking at the imposing male across from him, the medic lost his will immediately. but still was able to continue.

"Haruno-senpai's notes in your folder stated that she would routinely flush out, not only your liver but your kidneys as well, when you would come in unconscious from duty. Again from her notes, this was done every time you were brought in, even though 83% of the time the incident in which you came to us for, had nothing to do with those two internal systems. I'm not going to imply that I know your lifestyle whatsoever Uchiha-sama. Yet, I know Sakura-senpai would. So based on this theory combined with documented fact that one of the main forms of heart failure among shinobi is Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy...well I have a feeling your former teammate worried about that possibility in your future. I'm sure with of your clan's medical predisposition to-"

The inwardly fuming Uchiha stopped him right there. "My nii-san as well as many other Uchihas, had a predisposition only to pulmonary health defects due to our clan's affinity with Katon. This has nothing to do with my heart."

_'Crap'_

He didn't know. The great Sasuke Uchiha didn't know. The medic was sure god was laughing at both men in the room albeit for different reasons entirely.

"I hate to be the one to inform you, but it also was in Haruno-senpai's research that of your inner family's medical history. She noted at the first detoxification some years ago, to research her initial concerns for your well being of course. What she found at the time of your mother's passing, she was on daily treatment concerning a genetic predisposition to a heart ailment, although with your clan's medical records being vague based upon secrecy; Haruno-senpai was unaware of specifically what it was. Also Mikoto-dono's paternal grandfather apparently had also suffered from heart issues as well."

The medic was stunned; the man before his was a stoic as a rock. The healer aspect in ever medic went out to him. Willing the pity off of his face, he knew as natural as that emotion was, it rarely did any good

"So what I have here are some ACE inhibitors as a temporary precaution as well to see how you react to them. That is should they be part of a long term treatment. I advice when taking those that no alcohol should be taken in lieu of this medicine. Again this is just a preemptive measure, although we should know soon whether or not this the previously discussed issue, is the reason for you increased heart rate today or if it's any of the other possible conditions. We would also like you to come in very soon for more tests, although by your records it seems like you will consent to having any test only by Haruno-senpai. Yet, given your standing in the village, do you have any objections to the Godiame herself?"

Uchiha knew the medic was vaguely just musing out loud, going through the standard lines he must speak by law. They both knew he wouldn't be going anywhere near the medical labs unless Sakura herself dragged him in there with the Dobe's help. Surprisingly enough, the medic just wasn't done yet.

"Oh, one other thing. You filled out all of these forms with the wrong date. It's still December not January. I hate to see all the new years and holidays seasons go by without actual partaken in it. Decreased concentration is another symptom...here's a pamphlet about it. Any other questions Uchiha-sama?"

But the man sitting on the table was just staring at the forms with a veiled mask of totally and utter shock..

Well, if you squinted.

Sitting down on a stool to write his final thoughts about the discussion, the medic really couldn't help himself from blabbing more, "Really, you are quite blessed to have someone like Harano-senpai watching over you. If she didn't do all that research, I would have passed it off at post mission stress and told you to take an aspirin."

Looking at the thread upon his finger, Sasuke's stomach gave an unsuspecting lurch.

_'The dates were wrong? Then...'_

It wasn't until the room returned to it's proper temperature that the medic realized that he was alone in a room with the forms on the floor. Glancing at it, he settled down for a bit of forgery before going home. After one encounter with the last Uchiha, he was more than ready for a glass of wine and bed.

Not surprisingly, he wasn't the only one.

AN: Amazing what one can write during a four hour shift with a gun full of freshly carbonated ginger ale...then edit for two days...

**cataclysmicreation**: the talented L has left me with many mini-plots and characterizations to carry on! I hope everybody enjoys our differing writing styles!


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